Understanding UKIP’s influence on politics

today there seems to me to be a strong urge to state how insignificant UKIP’s chances are in the parliamentary elections they tell us UKIP who currently sit on 18% in the national polls who also received 25% a quarter of the vote in the county council elections last week does not matter. They state that the nearer we come towards the general election providing the government doesn’t fall beforehand and well who knows with the Tories currently tearing themselves apart over the EU. But this is to completely miss the point UKIP for now have a mass media presence on news channels political chat shows and being interviewed allot. This makes them already significant in the eyes of the media and is a good choice of weapon for them at this stage. The ruling class is torn as we know there is no consensus in what to do to solve the economic crisis they have tried almost everything and have gone back to austerity as a default now. With UKIP holding so much influence within the media no doubt their say will set the agenda for Tories and new labour with the anti immigrant rhetoric stepped up. We are already hearing calls for Ed Miliband to take a tougher stance on welfare from some parts no doubt UKIP play their part in this pressure too. But as the calls for an EU referendum grow louder and louder from the Tories back benchers and the UKIP poll rating staying at a steady high teen’s level they will begin to set the boundaries of the political debate in this country. Nigel Farage who was a stock broker for many years and a Tory even up till 1992 when John Major signed the EU treaty at Maastricht... which lead to many of the UKIP’s positions today 1992 was in a way the year zero for them. Everything since has made their skin crawl with the EU and the red tape. The regulation over trade is something which gets to them and their big business and even small business friends. But it is true that UKIP do have influence in politics today even if they do not have any seats. They do however now have many county councillors which will see how they cope with local democracy I predict not so well but in other ways this could also strengthen their base at a local level by pointing to actual policies they have carried out for people. Much like with the BNP they got local people on side by saying simple things they can do for people getting hedges cut roads resurfaced things like this which may appear small are incredibly popular with the folk in the shires too. A typical fascist tactic too is something we’ve seen in Greece now with Golden Dawn who is administering food at food banks now to only Greeks and turning away so called foreigners and immigrants. This strategy whilst providing fascist and anti immigrant propaganda is a way of getting people on side and I can see being a tactic of the far right in this country too in the future providing a service which the state no longer does whilst offering you a deep message of hate for other people be them disabled, benefit claimers, poles etc etc you can imagine it now. But what is for certain UKIP’s populairist right wing nationalist politics are a sign of this crisis despite being around before the economic crisis but finding much more of an echo now in darker times. I can’t ever imagine UKIP being a party of government but when the ruling class is desperate they can take decisions which are not always in their most obvious interests at first. UKIP are certainly a useful tool for the ruling class right now who may also want to cut across any protest vote going to a left wing alternative too they can channel anger into UKIP and fuel and deepen divisions further this way too. Be aware of UKIP but don’t over play their threat to the left still needs to get its act together in Britain but also by UKIP’s rise this may jolt some into speeding up that process. We will see.